A Cross Cultural Study of Child Rearing Practices and Their Effect on Personality Development

Abstract

The main purpose of the present study was to find out the major difference in child rearing techniques, used by Pakistani and Kenyan mothers and to explore their effects on personality development. For this purpose, a total of 161 families were randomly drawn from a population of Peshawar (Pakistan) and Nairobi (Kenya). From each family, a mother and one child were included in the sample. The study was carried in two parts. In part A, the main difference in child rearing techniques were studied and an unstructured questionnaire on mothers, was administered. Part B explored the effects of child rearing techniques on personality dimensions. Here CAT was administered on their children.
The results revealed that Kenyan mothers preferred breast feeding more as compared to Pakistani mothers (P<.01). Bottle feeding, on the other hand, was less preferred by Kenyan mothers as compared to Pakistani mothers (P<.01). In both the cultural groups, a higher percentage of mothers belonging to joint family system preferred bottle feeding in contrast to the nucleus family system (P<0.1). The data further revealed that a high percentage of Pakistani mothers wean and toilet train their children earlier (P<.01), as compared to Kenyan mothers. Moreover, mothers belonging to the higher income groups in Pakistan as well as Kenya, toilet train their children earlier as compared to lower income group (P<.01). In the case of punishment, as a mode of discipline, a higher percentage of Pakistani mothers punish their children for misbehaviour, as compared to Kenyan mothers (P<.05). In joint family system, mothers of both the cultural groups, reward their children for good behaviour more, in contrast to nucleus family system (P<.05). The results also revealed that mothers from both the cultures, belonging to higher income groups, reward good school work more as compared to lower to lower income groups (P<.05).
The results of Part B revealed that independence was highly related to bottle feeding (P<.01) whereas, breast feeding shows no such relationship. Furthermore, the sex of the child shows a significant relationship with aggressive behaviour (P<.05). Thus, a high percentage of boys, of both the cultural, groups exhibit aggressive behaviour more frequently as compared to girls.